Shaquille O’Neal buys Another Midtown Atlanta Restaurant

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was on hand to join Shaquille O’Neal and Papa Johns CEO Steve Ritchie to cut the ribbon on O’Neal’s new Papa John’s restaurant near Georgia Tech in Midtown Atlanta.

Shaq is on the Papa John’s Board of Directors and the company uses him as a spokesman.

Shaq buys Papa Johns in Midtown Atlanta

According to security filings, the pizza chain is paying the NBA great $4.1 million in cash over three years. Shaq is also getting  87,136 shares of stock that vest between 2020 and 2022, according to restaurantbusinessonline.com.

Those shares are reportedly worth $4.4 million.

The deal also includes Shaq appearing on the company’s social media accounts once a month and other partnership plans.

On Sunday, the City of Atlanta’s Twitter account posted about the ribbon-cutting in Midtown.

Shaq owns several Midtown Atlanta establishments in the food industry, including the iconic Krispy Kreme on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

In 2016, the TNT analyst paid $1.1 million for an estate in McDonough. The property is spread out across 14 acres and features two homes, a basketball court, a theatre and a three-stall barn.

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Tee Johnson: Tee Johnson is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AtlantaFi.com, Atlanta’s independent hyper-local publication focused on news, restaurants, events, jobs, neighborhoods, and lifestyle. A 15+ year Atlanta resident and longtime journalist and content creator, she covers Travel News, Events, Business, Hair Care, and Money with a practical, Atlanta-first lens. Before launching the site, Johnson worked as a substitute teacher in Atlanta Public Schools and later in corporate roles at Home Depot’s Vinings offices. A marketer by training with a degree in business management, she grew frustrated with the fragmented, hard-to-find information about what was actually happening in the city. That gap led her to create AtlantaFi as a curated, one-stop resource for the pulse of Atlanta—#ATLHAPS—without the national noise. Editorial decisions remain independent; the publication does not accept products, meals, or services in exchange for coverage. As Editor-in-Chief, she oversees original local reporting and curated practical guides that help residents, visitors, and businesses discover and engage with the city. Readers turn to her work for timely event roundups, dining and neighborhood insights, business and travel updates, and straightforward money and lifestyle coverage grounded in firsthand observation of Atlanta. A devoted lover of all things Atlanta, Tee enjoys pickleball, a good margarita or bourbon, and walking the Atlanta Beltline. She can be reached for editorial inquiries at tjohnson@atlantafi.com (serious inquiries only).

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